By Jim Jarmusch’s third film, Down by Law, he had clearly established a penchant for loner figures. His previous film, Strangers in Paradise (1984), and his debut feature, Permanent Vacation (1980), established this along with the New Yorker’s unique style and approach to independent filmmaking. After shooting two films in Manhattan, Down by Law moves the filming to the rich landscape of New Orleans, with the added ambiance of Robby Müller’s black and white cinematography. Like many of his other films, Down by By Law is a character piece which relies upon the unique personalities chosen while casting. The actors make the film what it is, though it always remains primarily and clearly a Jarmusch film.

The actor choices in Down by Law may be among Jarmusch’s best. Favoring placing non-actors in his films and casting them to play a variation of themselves is what makes Jarmusch’s direction so unique, and Down by Law is a prime example. The three-way buddy comedy follows the misadventures of a trio of loners in New Orleans who end up sharing a prison cell together, and ultimately a prison escape. John Lurie is the first we are introduced to, playing a cool-tempered pimp with a dangerous opportunity that lands him in prison. Whether he is simply unlucky or framed by an unknown villain is unclear, though it matters little in the larger scheme. Musician Tom Waits is the next to arrive on scene as Zack, a radio disc jockey with women troubles. After an argument with his girlfriend, Zack finds himself drunk and given an opportunity of his own. There is also a coincidental unluckiness to the way Zack is arrested, one which also hints at the possibility of a frame-up.

The third in the cell is perhaps the most important character, though we see less of his journey leading up to the prison cell. Only after Zack and Jack have shared a cell long enough to have a healthy animosity for each other does Roberto Benigni arrive to bind them together. Benigni is now best known for his Italian comedies, particularly Life is Beautiful. When Jarmusch cast Benigni, however, he was little known out of Italy. The amount of English he spoke was integrated into the storyline, as the hapless Italian gambler uses a notepad to fill in the silence with cliché American phrases he has learned. Roberto, as his character is also known, has an accidental arrival into prison when he kills a man in self defense after cheating at a card game. These three couldn’t be much different from each other, and the film almost seems to be a social experiment in the way we watch their interactions with each other within a prison cell and on the run.

The Blu-ray release includes a new, restored digital transfer, supervised by Jarmusch. The special features include an audio interview with Jarmusch and a video interview with Müller, both from 2002. There is also footage from the 1986 Cannes Film Festival, where this film was screened. This is just the beginning, with additional interviews, recorded phone conversations, production pictures and more. There are even sixteen outtakes, a rarity from a film before the commonplace inclusion of deleted scenes on DVDs. The insert booklet also has an essay by critic Luc Sante on the film.

Whit Stillman’s Metropolitan somehow seems both ahead of its time and stuck in the ways of the past. The class issues engaged seem irrelevant in some ways today, and in others they are just as important as ever, if not much more hidden than once before. Interestingly enough, made in 1990 Metropolitan was even more scathing an unexpected, an upper crust criticism in the aftermath of Reagan’s reign of the 1980s. Garnering a nominated for Best Original Screenplay, Metropolitan is a dialogue heavy film about the romantic misadventures which occur when an outsider enters a group of elite Manhattan preppies during the debutante season.

We enter the world of the wealthy Manhattan upper crust through the accidental inclusion of West Side occupant Tom Townsend (Edward Clements). Though he wears a raincoat instead of an overcoat, the group of socialites invite him along out of happenstance; they are short a number of male escorts and Tom’s inclusion will balance the numbers. This provides Tom, and the audience, with a front row view to the pretentious debates and immature games played with utmost seriousness which takes up a majority of the time spent at the parties.

Though these are rich Manhattan socialites, Metropolitan paints a very different picture than “Gossip Girl.” While these adolescents also spend their time drinking and acting as though they are adults in the apartments their parents own, they do so with an element of deadly seriousness. There is a faux maturity and seriousness which is placed upon everything and one can’t help but wonder why they feel so rushed to imitate their parents. At the same time, their treatment of romantic issues within the group quickly places them back within their age group. Tom becomes entangled, both because of a girl within the group he once dated and still remains interested in, and a different girl who becomes obsessed with Tom.

Roger Ebert called Metropolitan, “a film Scott Fitzgerald might have been comfortable with.” This is a perfect description for a film about a group of adolescents putting on a show in order to disguise their individual insecurities. This is a film about thoughts and feelings coming from a group like this, and it is potent with dialogue and believably flawed and complex characters. Not much must occur within the story for the film to remain engaging.

The Blu-ray release of Metropolitan includes a restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised by Stillman and cinematographer John Thomas. There is an optional audio commentary by Stillman, joined by Editor Christopher Tellefsen, and actors Christopher Eigeman and Taylor Nichols. There are also some rare outtakes and alternate casting ideas, also with commentary by Stillman. The insert booklet has an essay by critic Luc Sante.

There is definitely the recognizable irreverent humor of the Upright Citizens Brigade within the comedy Freak Dance, but I was disappointed by how unimaginative much of the spoof humor was. Spoof films are the lowest level of intelligence and humor, lazily poking fun at other films with as much originality as a hipster on Facebook. The Step Up movies are put in the center of the target, along with a musical soundtrack fitting High School Musical or “Glee,” which is where the plot and most of the jokes end up hitting. This makes for an extremely predictable and mildly amusing film from a comedy troupe known for better.

The storyline is pretty much exactly what you would expect to see in any variety of dancing movies. It begins with a rich white girl who decides that ballet dance isn’t good enough for her, slumming in the ghetto so that she can learn to dance with her butt instead. Cocolonia (Megan Heun) quickly pairs up with a dance crew led by Funky Bunch (Michael Cassady), and they must take on the competition in a dance off or risk losing their rehearsal/living space.

In order to win, this group must be dirtier with their dancing than their competition. Despite the rigid upbringing of her mother (Amy Poehler), Cocolonia must learn to dance freaky in order to help her new friends. Vulgar and exaggerated dance routines follow in obvious humor, but with very few sincere laughs. Freak Dance is mostly weirder than it is funny and more obvious than it is creative.

The DVD release has an audio commentary with director Neil Mahoney, as well as a silly featurette and some deleted/extended scenes.

Intruders has a clever concept which is somewhat destroyed when the screenplay tries to provide too many twists and turns. There are too many questions left unanswered, which is what happens when you approach a fantastic idea with realism but don’t bother to have logical resolutions. Unable to decide whether this is a supernatural thriller or a psychological thriller, and unwilling to give up the final twist despite the gaps it provides in the story, Intruders ends up being an uneven and occasionally dull thriller instead of a simple and effective horror film.

The story follows two different children on opposite sides of the world, each experiences similar nightly attack from a man they know as Hollow Face. There is a made up back-story to explain what he wants and why he has no face, but ultimately this is just a story that a little girl made up as a school project. When the 13-year-old girl, Mia (Ella Purnell), becomes convinced that Hollow Face is coming to get her, only her father John Farrow (Clive Owen) believes she is telling the truth. It becomes a story about truth when all evidence points towards no evidence, despite the fact that John has nightly fistfights with the faceless intruder.

The predictable storyline of disbelief is the most exasperating aspect of this film, as it is any supernatural or psychological thriller. Since we are able to see the attacks, we know that there must be a monster, but everyone else doubts the sanity of the father and daughter. Each time he visits, the hollow-faced monster tries to take something from Mia’s face. After the first successful attack she is left without the ability to speak, and future attacks threaten the rest of her facial abilities.

The Blu-ray release includes a making-of featurette, as well as some behind-the-scenes footage. There are a few sequences where the high definition enhances the thrills and the effects of this film, though it makes little difference for the remainder.

Mac & Devin Go to High School is a marijuana comedy, which suggests a double-entendre within the title. With rap stars Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa starring, not to mention a cartoon joint voiced by Mystikal, it is also a film about hip-hop culture. The attitude and views found within this culture can be discovered by listening to any of the socially irresponsible and morally devoid songs played continuously on whatever popular radio station is in your area. The message here seems to be correlating with the single from these two stars, essentially saying that being young means getting drunk and high. I have no problem with this immature viewpoint coming from actors/musicians who are far from high school age, but the fact that it also brings a message which is sexist and downright abusive towards women is much easier to swallow.

Snoop Dogg plays Mac Johnson, a 15-year senior who essentially stays in high school to sleep with the young girls and sell weed to his classmates. He changes his mind and decides to graduate only once he gets a teacher who is attractive in her inappropriately short skirts and unwilling to date a high school student. Devin Overstreet (Khalifa in his first attempt at acting) is a different type of student, so responsible that he doesn’t sleep with his girlfriend or smoke weed. When these two unlikely students are paired up for a chemistry experiment, they each have something they can learn from each other.

What they teach each other is somewhat one-sided. Although Mac eventually learns just enough to get out of high school, it is Devin who learns the most when Mac teaches him how to smoke weed and get laid. In order to have sex he must tell off his bitchy girlfriend and visit a prostitute, but this is all much easier for the uptight student once he has learned to smoke copious amounts of drugs first. In this world, it seems as though everyone but Devin is already smoking weed anyway. Even his teachers look to Mac for supply.

The Blu-ray includes an audio commentary by director Dylan Brown, as well as Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa.

The last thing cinema needs is another vampire film. At a certain point there is nothing new to add to the genre, and that is exactly the territory that Midnight Son falls into. The approach is like dozens of other films, from start to finish unimpressive and easily forgettable. This is not to say that there aren’t aspects of Midnight Son which are well executed, but each moment has been done better elsewhere.

The one saving grace of Midnight Son is the fact that we are spared the sequences which explain how our protagonist became a vampire. Jacob (Zak Kilberg) is a night security guard with a hatred of the sun and an insatiable hunger. Eventually he discovers that the only thing to relieve the hunger inside of him is blood. At first buying animal blood from the butcher seems to be enough, but soon after he is bribing hospital employees for human blood instead. Like the slippery slope of urge satisfying, this inevitably turns into a consumption of fresh human blood.

At the same time that Jacob grows accustomed to his newfound insatiability, he also begins a romance with a young drug addict he meets on the street one night named Mary (Maya Parish). Their relationship runs parallel to Jacob’s discovery of the monster within. While Mary is a temptation for Jacob, his abilities provide specific benefits as well.

The special feature on the Midnight Son DVD includes an audio commentary with writer/director Scott Leberecht and stars Kilberg and Parish, as well as Jo D. Jonz. There are also deleted scenes and interviews with the cast and crew members.

This is much less of a horror film than it is a comedy which wants you to believe it may be horror long enough to distract from a predictable ending. It has many movies swimming around in the storyline, but it is the horror which adds an element of mystery and surprise to the otherwise unrelated storylines of a socially awkward man coming out of his shell. Beyond the manipulative structure and misleading cover art, Some Guy Who Kills People is actually an entertaining little comedy thriller.

Ken Boyd (Kevin Corrigan) had a tough childhood. Although he wanted to play basketball and was actually quite good, he was ridiculed and bullied by the popular guys on the team. After he creates a comic book about the basketball players, the bullying becomes so intense that Ken eventually needs to go to a mental hospital for recovery. Years later the same bullies are still making Ken’s life hell, and his meager job at an ice cream parlor doesn’t help matters much. Life starts to look up for Ken when he is reunited with his daughter and begins to date a friendly customer (Karen Black), but this happens as all of the basketball bullies from ken’s past are killed off, one by one.

There isn’t much violence or gore in this film, though these expected elements of horror are replaced with a level of humor which is greater than is expected. The highlight of the film’s humor comes from the seemingly bumbling Sheriff (Barry Bostwick), who also happens to be dating Ken’s mother. His investigation seems to be going nowhere and he has no problem discussing this with Ken and anyone else nearby, which allows for the murders to continue.

The DVD release includes commentary track with the director, as well as the writer and producer. There is also a short film which was the inspiration for the feature film and a generic making-of feature.

Phenomenon is an interesting adult fantasy which bleeds into adult melodrama romance, but it happens in a way that is effective. Instead of scoffing at the manipulation, it is easy to get swept up in the emotional landscapes of Phenomenon. This partly due to a talented cast, headed up by John Travolta, Kyra Sedgwick, Robert Duvall and Forest Whitaker. Special circumstances come to a small town in the film’s storyline, and what makes the film stay about the characters rather than the fantasy element is the willingness for the storyline to stay small.

George Malley (Travolta) is an ordinary guy, a small town mechanic without much education or experience outside of his limited world. On his 37th birthday, all of this changes. When he is knocked out from a blinding light, George wakes up with new abilities. He finds himself growing increasingly intelligent, eventually capable of mental abilities thought impossible. When George can move objects with his mind, the doctors are all baffled.

Although it seems that the storyline could easily progress towards a larger lifestyle, George is content to stay in his small town because of the people there. Most importantly is a furniture-making single mother (Sedgwick) George begins to date. This is the relationship which stays at the forefront of the storyline, despite all of the fantasy elements, and it is also what makes this a guaranteed two-hanky film.

The Blu-ray release doesn’t include any special features, but it does have the film in high definition picture and sound for the first time. There are not too many special effects to be improved, but basic image is much sharper and cleaner looking.

Before Christian Bale was Batman, he was dancing and singing in a Disney movie like Zac Ephron. Newsies was the musical for a younger generation; a generation during which the musical was dead. This was an impressive return to classic filmmaking by Disney, and 20 years later it still stands up as solid entertainment. The classic dance routines were even choreographed by the same man who would create the dance routines for the future generation’s High School Musical.

Newsies is a period musical which tells the tale of a group of newsboys who must use song, dance and courage to stand up to the corruption in their city. They don’t just deliver the news, but they are also forced to stand up for themselves. It’s kind of like the male storyline for Annie, minus the orphanage. These are a group of street-wise kids who sell newspapers while they sing and dance.

As well as a younger Christian Bale (who had already been in the business for years), Newsies stars Robert Duvall and Ann-Margret and a group of other recognizable faces. The Blu-ray includes an audio commentary with the filmmakers as well as a slew of previously released behind-the-scenes featurettes. There is also a storyboard comparison and a great sing-along feature, not to mention the high definition picture and sound.

Even though Mel Gibson’s latest film, Get the Gringo, is a return to the action comedy days of his past, it has made few waves in the entertainment world. Gibson’s fans seem to have vanished, forgotten him after the last decade of hijinks and bad press, not to mention some bizarre career choices. For those who long for the golden days of Mel Gibson filmmaking can at least find solace in the Blu-ray release of the 15th Anniversary Edition of Ransom.

Along with Kurosawa’s High and Low, Ransom is one of the greatest kidnapping movies, filled with drama, suspense and action alike. Gibson stars as Tom Mullen, a wealthy executive who loses everything when his son is kidnapped. Despite all of the advice Mullen gets from his wife (Rene Russon) and the expert in kidnapping cases (Delroy Lindo), he takes matters into his own hands in an attempt to get his son back. This makes matters even more dangerous for the kidnappers and increases the suspense in this thriller tenfold.

The Blu-ray release of Ransom includes extensive deleted scenes, as well as a commentary track with director Ron Howard and a behind-the-scenes featurette. There is also a small featurette in which the cast and crew talk about how they would react to a situation similar to what the film portrays. These features have all been released before, though this is the first time that this suspense classic has been in high definition picture and sound.

Martin Scorsese is not known for doing sequels, especially not of films that aren’t even his own, but twenty-five years ago he made a fantastic follow-up film to The Hustler. The classic pool hall hustler film starred a young Paul Newman as a fiery gambler with a penchant for trouble. The Color of Money also has an impatient albeit talented protagonist, though it is no longer Newman. Tom Cruise fills that role, making this a star-studded classic, and one which stands on its own.

Newman returns to his Academy Award-winning role as Fast Eddie Felson, who know has wisdom to go with his talent. Felson picks up a rookie pool shark named Vince (Cruise) and begins showing him the ropes. They make plans together, though Vince inevitably makes the same egotistical mistakes that Felson once made. From the way the billiard sequences are shot to the acting by the film’s two stars and the direction by Scorsese, The Color of Money is a near perfect film.

Now this 25-year-old classic can be found on high definition Blu-ray. There are no real special features, but the high definition picture and sound is reason enough for an upgrade of this modern classic.

The Horse Whisperer is a difficult film to catalogue, because it has a storyline which is like few films. Though there is a horse, it is not a race movie. People wear cowboy hats, but it isn’t a western. There is some drama, some romance and a degree of melodrama. Based on the novel by Nicholas Evans, The Horse Whisperer is a hard film to define but this just seems to help make it more unexpectedly captivating.

Directed by and starring Robert Redford, The Horse Whisperer tells the story of a string of occurrences which follow a nearly devastating accident. When a young girl (played by a prepubescent Scarlett Johansson) has a devastating riding accident, both she and her horse are injured. The horse no longer seems to be the same, so a rugged rancher known as the “Horse Whisperer” (Redford) is called upon to help fix the situation.

The Horse Whisperer is a quiet and slow paced drama, running at nearly three hours long with very little action. What the film does have is lush scenery and cinematography, all of which comes off beautifully in high definition. The Blu-ray disc also includes three featurettes and a music video, taken from the DVD release so many years ago.

Evita was one of those highly anticipated, large-budget, overblown releases. There was no way that it could live up to all of the hype, as is the case with most adaptations of Broadway musicals. With Oliver Stone as a co-screenwriter and pop icon Madonna in the leading role, at the very least Evita should not have been as big of a flop as it was. For those who weren’t quite as disappointed as I was, the release of the 15th Anniversary edition of Evita on Blu-ray disc is something to celebrate.

The story tells the true-life story of Eva Peron (Madonna), a woman who went from poverty to fame in her impoverished country, all thanks to the choice she had in men. These men she had to choose from are played by Antonio Banderas and Jonathan Pryce. These decisions lead to a controversial life, albeit one which changed her home country of Argentina.

The film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical sensation may not have impressed me, but the high definition of the Blu-ray enhances the musical elements as well as the large-scale production values of the film. Poorly made in some ways, there are still a great many elements which are enhanced by the high definition Blu-ray release. The Blu-ray also comes with a few previously released special features. There is an extensive making-of featurette, as well as a music video by Madonna with one of the film’s songs.

Only in the 1980s would a film like Cocktail get made, carried only by the star power of Tom Cruise and a ridiculous story of superficial people and lush surroundings, all of which are enhanced even more with high definition Blu-ray. Cocktail isn’t what I would call a good movie, though it has some cult appeal to it. If nothing else there has to be a decent drinking game or two attached to this 1980s near-classic.

Cruise stars as Brian Flanagan, and the only thing more ridiculous than his name is the concept for the film. Flanagan is the hottest bartender in Manhattan, a commodity which is so special that it earns him a lush job at a resort in Jamaica. This job affords Brian the opportunity to get to know some appealing customers, including an independent artist (Elisabeth Shue). With lush surroundings, plenty of alcohol and two attractive people, it is no surprise where the storyline goes from here.

The highlight of the Blu-ray has more to do with the locations chosen for the filming of Cocktail than anything else. Jamaica looks fabulous in high definition, and if that isn’t enough eye candy there is always the two attractive stars. The Blu-ray has no special features, making the scenery the most important thing about this disc.

Although Butterfly Swords stars some of the biggest names in Asian action films today, it was made before they were at the height that they are now. This is the type of martial arts action film which is what inspired Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, though with an R-rated sensibility where humor and violence is concerned. They still fly through the air gracefully, but also have the strength to kick a man’s head completely off of his body. There is the style and elegance, as well as a fantasy of extreme strength and destruction. Butterfly Swords was made in 1993, and carries a very distinct style from the times.

The story is somewhat confusing between the action sequences, filled with deception and betrayal, along with a strange love triangle between childhood friends. There are evil rulers in the Ming Dynasty, and it is up to these childhood fighters to stand on the right side. The problem becomes discovering which of the two rulers in the land the evil ones are.

Starring Donnie Yen, Michelle Yeoh and Tony Leung, this film is star packed and full of martial arts talent. Butterfly Swords is fast paced and violent, to the point where men can be drilled all the way to their crushed skull into the ground with the right kick. It is almost cartoonish at some points, with all of the exaggerated sound-effects that once was paired with kung fu films.

The DVD release of this lost film from the early 1990s comes with no special features and in mediocre quality picture and sound. If it weren’t for the stars attached and the fame they have gathered since, this film may never have been released at all.